


Time to Dance

by Starla-Nell (Princess_Nell)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dancing, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, in Wakanda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 14:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15026525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Nell/pseuds/Starla-Nell
Summary: Steve has skills. Those skills do not include dancing. Bucky has a new reason to change that.





	Time to Dance

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first Marvel fic! I hope you like it. 
> 
> Also my first unprovoked fluff. These two have suffered enough. I guess I needed to see the good times, too.

“Maybe… maybe we shouldn’t do this,” Steven Rogers said, stepping away from Bucky Barnes.

“It’s not that bad,” Bucky said, smiling. “I’ve almost got my side learned.”

“I really don’t. You’ll look ridiculous.”

“Don’t care. This is one of the few times I’ll have my say on the songs the band—the DJ—plays.” Bucky turned a smile on Steve he knew would do the trick. “It’s been forever since I’ve done the jitterbug.”

It didn’t do the trick. “You should just give up on me.”

“Captain America!” Bucky teased. “Are you chickening out? I never thought I’d see the day”—

Steve looked at him directly. He was _really_ miserable.

Bucky’s heart skipped. “Wait. You’re not… _chickening out_ , are you?”

“God! No, Buck, I’m not…” Steve’s face cleared, and he stepped into Bucky’s space again.

“Because it’s fine if you need to.” Bucky restrained himself from wrapping his arms around Steve. If he’d finally come to his senses, then…

“No! I want this! God, I want this, so much. Just not… not the dancing.” Steve gestured at the empty Wakandan dance floor, the 1940’s music blaring on without them. Steve sighed. “I suck at this. Maybe you should get Natasha or something…”

“Hey,” Bucky breathed, holding him and running his fingertips over Steve’s jawline. “This is _our_ dance. I won’t do it with someone else.”

“Yeah, I know.” Steve had the good grace to look sheepish. “I just don’t want you to look bad.”

Bucky laughed softly. “You could never make _me_ look bad, Rogers.”

Steve looked at him through his eyelashes. It took some doing since Steve was taller now. “What about when you met Peggy?” he said, sass back in full force.

Bucky huffs. “She was sweet on you long before I got there.” Steve blushes, looking away. “And for good reason.”

“Oh, really?” Steve’s fishing, Bucky knows. He chuckles and humors him anyway.

“You’re smart. Sincere. Funny. Strong.”

“I wasn’t strong then.” On anyone else, it would be bitter. Steve’s just stating a fact.

“Yes, you were,” Bucky says softly. “You were always strong.” He smiles. “Why am I telling you all this? You already know.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes a fella likes to hear it said out loud.”

“Especially when his pride has taken a hit on the dance floor?”

“Especially then.” Steve smirks, and god it’s killing Bucky. “You know, if we’re doing this, you should take the lead. Then _one_ of us will know what we’re doing out there.”

Bucky feels his lip twitch as he blinks. “All right,” he says when he finds his place in the conversation again. “Hand on my shoulder.” Bucky touches Shuri’s latest prototype to Steve’s waist, taking up Steve’s hand with his real one. Steve touches his shoulder, but his hand jumps away. “All right?”

“Cold,” Steve says, smiling and putting his hand back. “Sometimes I forget.”

“Yeah,” Bucky says, grimacing. “Me too, pal.”

The look Steve gives him almost distracts him again.

“All right. We’ll start slow, old man.”

“Who’re you talking to?” Steve asks.

“Heh.” Bucky turned Steve just enough to point him in the right direction. “First you learn the moves, then you forget them.” He kicked his foot. “Cross this one over and step. Good. Do what I do, mirrored.” He turned him the other way. “Same thing with the other. And repeat. Good. And _one_ and _two_ and _one_ and _two…_ ” their feet collided as they crossed.

“Sorry,” Steve said. He was all wound up, concentrating hard. “I’ve _got_ to get this. There’s only a few weeks left.” He squared his feet, lifting Bucky’s arm and gripping his shoulder.

“Steve, relax. It’s no problem.” If he’d realized earlier how hard Steve was being on himself…

“No, I… I can throw a knife and hit a man point-first at twenty yards, but _this_ …”

“Uh, huh. How long did you practice the damn knife move?”

“That’s different. You do this, and it looks _easy_. I’m just…”

“It’s not different. Look, if I tell you something, you don’t tell _anyone_ , got it?”

Steve blinked. “Are you kidding? You know no one will remember your dirt longer than me, right?”

“That’s why I haven’t told you before,” Bucky said, chuckling. “Damn, you’re never gonna let me live this down.”

“Oh, this, I gotta hear.”

“The first time I went dancing, I broke… my partner’s… foot.”

“What?!?” Steve’s grin spread, then fell. “Wait, is she okay?”

“Pretty sure she’s dead by now, Steve,” Bucky said. It was still weird. His memories were his own again, but… almost everyone he knew was dead. Almost. “But yeah. She didn’t dance much for a while, but I found her again after her foot healed and I’d practiced enough.”

“Of course you did. You couldn’t have her thinking badly of you.” Steve was grinning. Bucky’s _really_ never living this down.

Bucky smiled back anyway. “That’s why I learned so fast. Why I went dancing so much. I wanted to make it up to her. And once I learned, I… It was so freeing. It felt _good_ , being admired and just… the _moves_ felt like _flying_. The only thing I could think, even then… was that I wanted to share it with you.”

Steve had a soft, lopsided smile. “That’s why you kept dragging me out,” he said.

Bucky nodded. “I thought maybe… if you could experience that… you’d lose that stupid crease you always had between your eyebrows.”

“I did not…” Steve rubbed the spot.

Bucky caught his hand. “You _did_ ,” he said and kissed the engagement ring on it. “Drove me nuts. Wanted to just… smooth it out.”

“I wish…” Steve took a big breath. “You know what? Fine.” He tucked his chin to look through his eyelashes again at Bucky. “You know I can’t resist making a fool of myself for you.”

The day they exchanged vows, Steve Rogers did _not_ make a fool of himself.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and Comments help me survive the agony that is posting my writing in a public place. You know what to do!


End file.
